Record Attendance for 16th DP Conference
The Dynamic Positioning Conference, held from 9 to 10 October 2012, broke all previous attendance records. Held at the newly completed Westin Memorial City Houston Hotel, Houston, USA, the conference attracted 400 attendees from North and South America, Australia, Europe, Asia, Russia and the Middle East.
A workshop on FMEAs and the MTS DP Guidance Documents, held the day prior to the actual conference, quickly filled up with close to 100 attendees. This was followed by a highly successful two-day conference, and a golf tournament held the day after the conference on 10 October at the Black Horse Golf Club in North Houston.
Rear Admiral Roy Nash, Commander, 8th District with the United States Coast Guard introduced the conference with a keynote address. Over twenty technical papers followed covered a range of DP-related topics, including presentations on ice testing, design and control, power, quality assurance, sensors, and thrusters.
Luncheon programmes featured a presentation by Joe Hughes, The Marine Safety Council, on the need for standardisation of International DP standards and regulations, an awards ceremony at which Steven Cargill (GL Noble Denton) was honored with the Dynamic Positioning Committee’s Distinguished Achievement Award, and a talk by the United States Coast Guard on the Coast Guard's updates to DP MODU regulations.
The Conference also introduced attendees to two additional guidance documents spearheaded by Suman Muddusetti and available through the Dynamic Positioning Committee website.
Twenty-eight companies showcased their products and services and an array of major companies showed their support through their generous sponsorship. These included Conference sponsors BP Global Wells Organization, Workshop sponsor DNV, Luncheon sponsors Rolls Royce, IHC Merwede and Kongsberg, Evening Reception sponsors DNV, GE Power Energy Conversion, Grand Isle Shipyard, and L-3 Communications, Refreshment Break sponsors Braemar Engineering, C-MAR Group, London Offshore Consultants and Measurement Devices Ltd, Golf Tournament Sponsor Kongsberg and Media sponsor Ocean News.
Preliminary proceedings from the Conference were provided on memory sticks to all attendees courtesy of ABB. Complete proceedings from the 2012 Conference will be available to all attendees online and can also be purchased through the DP website at http://www,dynamic-positioning.com.
Plans are currently underway for DP 2013, which is tentatively planned for 8 and 9 October 2013, with a workshop on 7 October 2013, and golf tournament on 10 October 2013.
